ICON’s stated purpose (paraphrased) is : to explore and share the use and value of personal computers and related technologies — only slightly different than the original wording in 1990.

Bill Patrick is a charter member of ICON, and was instrumental in founding the organization in the first place. He worked tirelessly at making arrangements for meeting space and providing the opportunity for ICON to become a reality. My father is also a charter member, and was instrumental in providing much of the training and expertise related to the use of computers. Bill (and others) provided the organizational means while Dad (and others) provided the benefit of his (their) expertise. Truly, a cooperative effort!

Fast-forward ten years (to 2000):

The efforts of Bill, my dad, and others, who gave a part of themselves for the greater good, were beginning to pay off. ICON was growing and becoming financially sound and stable, but it had not grown in its ability to draw from the skills and talents of a broad range of its members. Dad was growing tired of providing the majority of help and support to others, and seeing little sign of growth in that area. He would not abandon the organization he had helped to build, though; he didn’t step down until he knew there was someone who would carry on his efforts to make the group a positive force in the community — carrying the original goals (laid out by himself, Bill, and others) forward into the 21st century.

When I began working to help ICON forge ahead, I was not an officer. I was a beginner with less than two years’ experience using a computer, and had been a member for less than one year, but I had a clear vision of what needed to happen in order to bring to fruition the original goals of ICON’s founders. I’m not patting myself on the back here. What we’ve accomplished wouldn’t have been possible without the cooperation and support of many others! Not all of my ideas and efforts have worked out the way I envisioned them, and Dad, Bill, and others have been opposed to some of them.

Fast-forward seven years (to 2007) :

Seven years (and a lot of hard work) later, we’re still struggling to get more input and participation from a broader range of the members. We’re still fighting the resistance to change that increases in all of us as we go through the years. The famous adage “The only constant is change itself” was coined by the Greek philosopher Heraclitus almost 2500 years before the explosion of modern computer technology, yet never has it been truer than in the current era, when our whole world can change overnight.

As individuals, we don’t have to, and can’t, change as rapidly as the world around us changes. The best we can hope to do is stay informed of these inevitable changes, examine them within the parameters of our own experience and values, and choose to accept, embrace, or resist the changes wrought by technology .

As an organization, one of ICON’s goals is to keep us informed about modern technology. Sharing knowledge of how to use that technology is another, but resisting change…is not!

Let’s move ahead — together!

Hope to see you soon,

Terry